Through the Eyes of a Cat
by Shinobi illuminator
Summary: Why Pangur was named "Whiter than White".
1. Whiter than White

A white kitten peered from the breadbasket. Her blue and green eyes caught sight of her brother, Stoirm, scampering out of the kitchen. She leapt off her perch and trailed after her wild sibling. It was her first time to venture outside of the monastery, so the sights and sounds were quite overwhelming. The unnamed kitten darted through the robes of the passing monks and almost ran into the angry goose, which was still recovering from losing its tail feathers. The tiny feline spotted her brother's silver coat brush past the dark robes of the monks, who were loading their cargo onto a boat for their journey. She chased after him, while nearly avoiding the sleeping abbot's wolfhound, Hogan.

Storim curiously leapt into the boat unnoticed. The unnamed kitten reached the sandy grounds of the beach just when the boat was being cast off to the sea. Her brother peaked over the edge of the boat, meowing to his sister. She frantically jumped into the water, but she quickly scrambled out and shook off the seawater from her fur coat. There was no way to reach Stoirm.

Then the kitten found a rocky ledge just above the sore. If she was quick enough, perhaps she could reach the boat in time. She charged from the ledge and shot a glance back at her brother, his sea blue eyes stared anxiously back at hers. The little kitten clawed her way up the rocky side and pondered when to jump. She waited until the wooden boat was in view below her and then she took a great leap of faith and plummeted down.

Too late! The tide pulled the boat away, and the young kitten plunged into the murky water. Stoirm tried to jump after her, but a monk caught him and cradled him in his sleeves.

The traumatized kitten shrieked and batted the waves furiously, desperate to keep her head above the water. Seaweed got tangled on her legs and claws while the muddy green sea scum began staining her white fur.

Suddenly she saw her mother, Kella, yowling on the ledge. She urgently paced back and forth, trying to find a way to reach her kitten, but to no avail. Soon she found Aidan, bidding his brothers farewell at the shoreline.

Kella swiftly rushed over to him and frantically tugged at his white robes with her claws and teeth.

"OW!- Bloody hell! Kella? What's wrong old girl?" Aidan cried out, as he felt her claws dig into his ankles.

Kella tugged hard on his robes and led the way. Aidan staggered after the cat only to find something shrieking and kicking above the waves. He waded through the water and grabbed the struggling ball of fur. Aidan peeled off the soggy seaweed to find a small shivering kitten.

"Ah, so this is what the fuss was about; don't worry Kella, I've got her," Aidan said to the mother cat.

As the monk headed back to shore, he could hear the poor kitten let out a pitiful meow. Kella followed close behind as he fetched a bowl of water and rags. The monk put the shivering kitten on one of the desks in the scriptorium. It weakly opened its mismatched eyes and gazed up at the monk as he slowly washed off the sea scum from her fur. At first, the kitten flinched and batted at the cloth, then tried desperately to shake off the mud herself. But she soon fell exhausted and collapsed again.

"Now, now, little one, just let me clear away this mess for you," Aidan smiled, and gently stroked her with the rag. The kitten began to relax and purred as it brushed up against the monk's robes, staining them in the same muddy sea green scum. Aidan began to notice patches of white showing up on the kitten's fur. For a moment, he imagined he was erasing her color.

By the time he was finished removing the mud off of her, the kitten appeared to be whiter than snow.

"Whiter than white. Heh, I guess that's what I'll call you now, Pangur Ban," Aidan smiled, while scratching under the kitten's chin.

He set Pangur down to be reunited with her mother. Kella licked at Pangur's fur to smooth out patches that stuck out like splintered wood. She grabbed her kitten by the scruff and carried her to the baskets near the fireplace. Pangur, on the other hand, couldn't take her eyes off of the strange man who saved her.


	2. I and Pangur Ban my Cat

Light from the setting sun crept through the empty windows. The remaining brothers were busily working in the scriptorium on books, calligraphy, and translating old manuscripts.

Pangur crawled her way through the stone pillars looking for mice to eat. Aidan sat and watched her from a distance; it amused him to see the young kitten showing off her hunting skills.

'I and Pangur Ban my cat... Tis like a task we are at: Hunting mice is her delight, hunting words I sit all night,' the young monk thought, as he scratched the words on the edge of velum with his silver quill.

Pangur had corned a mouse in a small crack in the scriptorium wall. She hunkered down and waited patiently for the mouse to make its next move.

Aidan peered from his work to glance at the scene.

'Oftentimes a mouse may stray in the hero Pangur's way… Oftentimes my keen thought set takes a meaning in it's net.'

The grayish mouse finally darted from the crack and bolted across the floor, most of the brothers took no notice to it... Except for old Brother Bastien, who let out a screech and desperately climbed up on one of the rickety stools.

But Pangur wasn't too far behind.

The mouse scampered onto on of the tables, followed by the cunning little kitten. Ink husks were knocked over; brothers were rudely interrupted from their work.

Suddenly a flask of Green ink was knocked over spilled onto Pangur's fur and paws, leaving a trail of green paw prints behind.

The young kitten hissed and finally pounced on the terrified mouse. It's tail was caught underneath Pangur Ban's paws as the she proudly went in for the kill. With one crunch, the mouse's body lay limp inside the kitten's mouth and was gobbled up in an instant.

Aidan towered over the kitten while his fellow monks gathered around, all looking rather annoyed. Pangur's ears folded back as she embarrassedly shrank into a ball.

But Aidan could help but smile at the white kitten, as he picked her up and said humorously "Now how many times am I going to clean you up?"

The kitten merely flickered her ears and let out a small belch. A few of the monks next to Aidan snickered before he calmly whisked her away for another bath.

Later, during the night…

Pangur Ban crept down the empty halls of the monastery, as moonlight shined off of her snow-white coat.

She could hear the brothers snoring away in their chambers. The curious kitten slinked through the door of one of the rooms to find found Brother Aidan sleeping peacefully in his bed. Pangur jumped onto the bed and began playing with his brown shoulder length hair.

The brother awoke with surprise as he suddenly felt little claws digging into his scalp.

"OW! What the—Pangur! You little fiend, come over here," Aidan said sleepily, as he scooped up the rambunctious kitten and set it on his lap.

She cocked her head to the side as she stared into his vividly purple eyes.

"I take it you're feeling better after your adventures today, huh Pangur," Aidan smiled, as he stroked Pangur's fuzzy back.

At first the kitten pawed at his fingers as they came close, but she soon she began to settle down and started to purr to his gentle touch.

The monk chuckled and fell back to sleep. Pangur perked up as soon as she felt Aidan stop petting her. She crawled up to his chest and started licking at his chestnut brown beard, hoping he'd wake up. But Aidan just smiled in his sleep and cupped her with his hand, leaving her head free to poke out.

The young kitten soon gave up on her attempts to wake him, and curled up under his warm hand. Pangur could see moonlight shimmering through the empty windows and hear distant crashes of the waves outside.

Adventure could wait another day, for tonight is total bliss.


End file.
